Hongni for wuyi yancha teas

[Trusar]

Was wondering if a Hongni teapot from late 80's early 90's is a good match for da hong pao and wuyi teas.

i understand that in the beginning the teapot is still breaking in and will keep absorbing the flavours of the tea, so it would be pointless to compare the taste to a gaiwan at this point.

it would be good to get some advise and experience before i go and season it.

any suggestions.

[Brent D]

I use hongni for my yancha teas.
Your pot will probably perform closer to porcelain than you think.

[ShuShu]

Was wondering if a Hongni teapot from late 80's early 90's is a good match for da hong pao and wuyi teas.

i understand that in the beginning the teapot is still breaking in and will keep absorbing the flavours of the tea, so it would be pointless to compare the taste to a gaiwan at this point.

it would be good to get some advise and experience before i go and season it.

any suggestions.

The best answer is probably that it depends. Depends on the kind of yancha and it’s roasting, depends on the quality and shape of the pot.
I’m my view, good quality yancha works best in a gaiwan. You just can’t go wrong with a gaiwan. However, a pot does have an effect on the brew and if you like that effect then a fast pouring hongni is probably the way to go.

[OCTO]

HongNi clay generally augments fragrance and upper registry nuances. On the other hand it absorbs more flavour from the taste/body of the tea. I would try all types of WuYi yancha in the pot and stick to the few that brews best with the pot. Unless you drink yancha regularly, then you may want to designate the pot to a specific tea. Otherwise, it makes no economic and fiscal sense to dedicate one pot to one tea and end up being on the shelve more than being used. It’s not too late to dedicate the pot to a specific tea at a later date after some serious use without resetting the pot.

Agree with @ShuShu . For quality yancha, a good porcelain gaiwan is best. You won’t go wrong. We don’t get to drink quality yancha everyday...

Cheers!

[Trusar]

it is a higher profile pot, wider at the bottom than the top, which seems to be better for oolongs.

I also like drinking heavily roasted taiwanese oolongs like dong ding and ruby gaba, but being chinese clay im not sure if i should use it for the taiwanese oolongs.

I like da hong pao a lot and so far the pot seems to mute the some flavours i like and not others.

im hoping after seasoning it, it will bring our all the flavours i like.

[Trusar]

i want to use my teapots only for teas i like. so far i have:

zini: ripe pu erh

chaozou hong ni (slightly porous, but not too much): bai mu dan & maybe all white teas

hongni: 1) da hong pao and wuyi oolongs or
2) heavily roasted taiwanese oolongs like dong ding and ruby gaaba or
3) black/red teas or
4) dan cong (i think) or

[OCTO]

i want to use my teapots only for teas i like so far:

zini: ripe pu erh

chaozou hong ni (slightly porous, but not too much): bai mu dan & maybe all white teas

hongni: 1) da hong pao and wuyi oolongs or
2) heavily roasted taiwanese oolongs like dong ding and ruby gaaba or
3) black/red teas or
4) dan cong (i think) or

Nicely categorised. It's good that you have learnt to categorise your pots this way.

Just to illustrate to you how ambiguous tea and pot pairing can get.... I have a tea buddy who loves ripe puerh brewed in HongNi!... and yes.. his HongNi pots will appear a lot darker than normal due to the dark tea stains and patina from ripe puerh. I personally dedicated one of my vintage ChaoZhou hongni to quality DHP YanCha.

You may also want to consider DuanNi with DanCong... this is a classic combo used very often. On the other hand, If paired correctly, DuanNi can also be a good match with ripe puerh.

Happy pairing!

Cheers!

[Kale]

i want to use my teapots only for teas i like. so far i have:

zini: ripe pu erh

chaozou hong ni (slightly porous, but not too much): bai mu dan & maybe all white teas

hongni: 1) da hong pao and wuyi oolongs or
2) heavily roasted taiwanese oolongs like dong ding and ruby gaaba or
3) black/red teas or
4) dan cong (i think) or

Mostly agree with @OCTO. I usually prefer rougui in a gaiwan and shuixian in a hongni pot. more fragnant yancha (qilan etc) can also work in hongni. Usually a low profile pot is better for the leaves. Pour is very important cuz yancha is usually brewed fast with a high ratio of leaf. A gaiwan gives the most control in this sense.
For roasted oolongs like tgy and dd I usually prefer high fired zini. high profile.

[OCTO]

Mostly agree with OCTO. I usually prefer rougui in a gaiwan and shuixian in a hongni pot. more fragnant yancha (qilan etc) can also work in hongni. Usually a low profile pot is better for the leaves. Pour is very important cuz yancha is usually brewed fast with a high ratio of leaf. A gaiwan gives the most control in this sense.
For roasted oolongs like tgy and dd I usually prefer high fired zini. high profile.

+1 @Kale

[pedant]

Was wondering if a Hongni teapot from late 80's early 90's is a good match for da hong pao and wuyi teas.

f1 pot?

i think it works quite well but is not my absolute favorite. i slightly prefer older hongni (~60s), slightly less muting, a little closer to porcelain.
another difference i noticed is that 80s-90s (white sticker) f1 hongni gives a mineral taste. i think it's nice, but you may or may not like that.
fyi: i've only had a few of those pots. i'm not one of those guys who's examined (let alone used) a hundred factory pots.

[Bok]

@OCTO Duanni with Dancong! Now that is an interesting combo! Just as it happens that I will have one waiting for me on my return from the holidays...

[Trusar]

f1 pot?

i think it works quite well but is not my absolute favorite. i slightly prefer older hongni (~60s), slightly less muting, a little closer to porcelain.
another difference i noticed is that 80s-90s (white sticker) f1 hongni gives a mineral taste. i think it's nice, but you may or may not like that.
fyi: i've only had a few of those pots. i'm not one of those guys who's examined (let alone used) a hundred factory pots.

yes i find it adds this harshness to the teas as well as mutes them. this harshness should go with heavily roasted ruby gaba and it the teapot also seems to preserve the notes of dong ding.

i need to try it again with the DHP.

will it stop muting after a seasoning?

[Bok]

yes i find it adds this harshness to the teas as well as mutes them. this
harshness should go with heavily roasted ruby gaba and it the teapot also seems to preserve the notes of dong ding.

i need to try it again with the DHP.

will it stop muting after a seasoning?

Hongni will not add harshness to any tea. If there is harshness it has been in the tea before. Hongni won’t hide any, if anything it accentuates those qualities. Almost as plain and neutral as porcelain. But then, it depends, so many kinds of hongni not all behave the same...

If the tea is harsh, at least for Oolong, maybe you need to look for higher quality tea. Harshness in Oolong is a sign of low quality.

[Trusar]

Hongni will not add harshness to any tea. If there is harshness it has been in the tea before. Hongni won’t hide any, if anything it accentuates those qualities. Almost as plain and neutral as porcelain. But then, it depends, so many kinds of hongni not all behave the same...

If the tea is harsh, at least for Oolong, maybe you need to look for higher quality tea. Harshness in Oolong is a sign of low quality.

so far it has added harshness to all the teas ive tried in it. dong ding and wuyi teas had the least harshness. the most was the black teas and ruby gaba. the tie guan yin was in the middle. the tease are all good quality as in the gaiwan they perform great. Im almost certain its the teapot. here the pot:

[ShuShu]

Well it might be helpful if you explain what do you mean by “harshness” comparing to the a gaiwan?
Brewing yancha in a pot requires extra care, especially if the pour is not too great. What are your params?